CARRIE Underwood stepped in to help prevent a ‘nervous’ American Idol contestant from fainting during his heart-pounding audition on tonight’s season 23 premiere.

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Joey Cicconne nearly faints during his American Idol auditionCredit: ABC
Joey Cicconne, 27, from central New York was featured on tonight’s ABC premiere and sounded smooth as he sang Falling by Harry Styles.

However, in the middle of one of his notes, Joey abruptly stopped singing altogether – and stared forward blankly at the judges for several seconds.

All three A-list panelists began to look worried for Joey, with Lionel telling him to “take a deep breath.”

Luke, 48, appeared to grow more concerned, and asked repeatedly if he was “okay” or if he “needed water.”

“I honestly do feel sick,” Joey responded as beads of sweat began to drip down his face.

“Take a knee, take a knee. We don’t need you fainting. Just breathe,” Luke warned – which Carried added: “ You need to sit down.”

“It’s okay Joey, it’s just the nerves,” Lionel tried to reassure the contestant.

Luke walked up to a sweat-covered Joey and helped fan him down, saying in shock: “I can see you getting pale. He literally feels like a grill starter right now. Feel the heat coming off of this child.”

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Joey had to take a knee as he admitted to feeling ‘sick’ and nearly falling to the groundCredit: ABC

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Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood, and Luke Bryan appeared worried during Joey’s auditionCredit: ABC

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Luke and Lionel help contestant Joey as he nearly passes outCredit: ABC
Lionel, 75, then also walked up to Joey – who still appeared nervous although he was being consoled by both superstars.

The Hello singer then points to Carrie and says: “You see this lady right here?” as Carrie happily waves to him – he continues: “She was exactly where you are right now.”

Carrie, 41, then reassured Joey: “I have been where you’ve been. This competition gets tough. They’re throwing songs are you, you have to sing genres you’ve never sang before.

“It’s the most amount of stress I’ve ever had to go through but I also had the most amazing experience.”

American Idol judge Carrie Underwood breaks down in tears and weeps ‘I’m not okay’ as Luke Bryan consoles star on air

After Carrie’s words of wisdom, Joey appeared to ease up and feel better – although the show did not give an update on his condition.

“I know what they’re going through because I’ve been there. So I’m hoping I can help them and use that to all of our advantage,” the judge said after Joey’s audition.

Following the scare, Joey called the ordeal “one of the best and scariest experiences in my life.”

The episode didn’t end up showing if Joey scored a ticket to Hollywood or not – which infuriated fans.

“WE NEED TO KNOW IF JOEY MADE IT! What kind of editing is this?” someone online raged.

“So did Joey make it? If not, Joey will most likely now only be only known for being the one who nearly fainted,” another wrote.

Some viewers who were less infuriated focused on praising Carrie’s judging debut, with one writing: “Loving #AmericanIdol so far. So awesome @carrieunderwood is a judge and doing a great job.”

“Carrie looks very sweet. She’s not only one of the most beautiful #AmericanIdol winners in history, but also one of the most beautiful American Idol judges in history,” another said.

“Full circle moment for sure! from contestant to winner to judge to people auditioning singing your song. So proud of our girl,” a third posted on X.

While Carrie’s return to the show gained a lot of buzz – but the Before He Cheats songstress has remained mostly quiet the past several weeks since her controversial performance of singing America The Beautiful for Donald Trump at the 47th Presidential Inauguration.

Just a few months after she was announced as the new Idol judge, Carrie received mass backlash for performing at the inauguration – which results in a massive technical blunder heard around the world.

Who are the past American Idol winners?

The previous American Idol winners include:

Kelly Clarkson (2002)

Ruben Studdard (2003)

Fantasia Barrino (2004)

Carrie Underwood (2005)

Taylor Hicks (2006)

Jordin Sparks (2007)

David Cook (2008)

Kris Allen (2009)

Lee DeWyze (2010)

Scotty McCreery (2011)

Phillip Phillips (2012)

Candice Glover (2013)

Caleb Johnson (2014)

Nick Fradiani (2015)

Trent Harmon (2016)

Maddie Poppe (2018)

Laine Hardy (2019)

Just Sam (2020)

Chayce Beckham (2021)

Noah Thompson (2022)

Iam Tongi (2023)

The noise made many question what Carrie’s future on American Idol now looks like, however, a source close to the series claimed that she is not going anywhere – for now.

“Carrie’s job is not in jeopardy” and as of now, there are “no talks of firing her. She will continue her role as a judge,” an insider said.

They continued: “It doesn’t conflict with any of her Idol taping dates and [the inauguration] is before this season airs, so it doesn’t go against anything in her contract.

“But there are producers that don’t approve and are worried.”

The insider explained that part of this fear stems from fans already loudly threatening to boycott the show altogether.

“I don’t think anyone at the show knew about Carrie singing at the inauguration ahead of it coming out, it caught them all off guard.

“A lot of viewers are already speaking of a boycott, whether or not that’s true or just noise will be seen after the ratings come in but the conversation it now brings Idol into is not what producers want.

“They don’t want the show to get political, they want it to be an escape from that.”

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Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood, and Ryan Seacrest pose for a photo during American Idol Season 8 Judges Photo Call on October 02, 2024 in New York CityCredit: Getty

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Pictured: (l-r) Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood, and Luke Bryan – judges of “American Idol” – pose together backstage on Wednesday, March 5, 2025Credit: Getty